Time switch



Nov. 19, 1935. H. R. VAN DEVENTER 3 1 This svm'cn Filed June 14, 1932 10 the radio set in circuit for a 18' used inplace of 4 with the cover, case and crystal in place.

tatably mounted in the groove Patented Nov. 19 1935 PATENT OFFICE TIME SWITCH 1 Harry- B. Van

to Patent Engineering tion of Deventer, New York, N. Y., assignor Corporation, a corpora- Application June 14, 1932, Serial No. 611,110 11 (o 200-31) This invention relates to improvements in a time switch, and has for its object the provision of a switching mechanism that may be combined with a clock and used for a variety oi purposes,

I such, for example, as when the device is connected with a radio receiver whereby a given radio program may be set-up" ahead of time so that at the appointed time the clock will automatically operate the switching mechanism to connect predetermined time, after which the mechanism will automatically disconnect the set and stop the operation thereof.

A further object of the invention is the provision of a switching mechanism which can be the usual "on" and 011" switch now employed with radio sets'and usually located on the set. v

,A further object is switch 01' simple and cheap construction in which the provision of a time 20 the number or parts are reduced to aminimum,

and which is adapted to be readily set without the 1 necessity of opening the clock associated therewith.

The invention consists substantially in the con- I 25 struction, combination, location and relative" ar rangement of parts, all as will be more fully hereinafter set forth as shown by the accompanying drawing and finally pointed out in the ap- -pended claims.

By way of illustration the form of construction will be shown particularly suited for use with radio receiving sets and in the accompanying n Figure 1 is a plan view of a time switch without 35 the cover, case and crystal in place;

Figure 2 is asection on the line -0 of Figure 1 showing the cover, case and crystal in sect-ion, and 1' Figure 3 is an elevation .01 the complete device The clock movementper se may be of any suitable type and have any suitable form of drivi i! I mechanism. A suitable type is an electric clock comprising asynchronous motor driving. the

4 usual train of gears for operating the hour and minute hands. A second hand as shown in the J drawing may be used butwis not necessary to carry out this invention.

Referring to Figure ring In is ro- I I, the latter being mounted upon a ring of insulating material l2, secured to the base II. This electrically insuiates the gear and groove rings from the rest 'oi' the device. 55 The gear ring II has an inwardly Pr ecting Lilies arcuate portion II and by means of the hour knob l5 integral with pinion l6 rotatably mounted on stub shaft H, the teeth of said pinion being in engagement with the teeth on the gear ring, the ring may be rotated so as to cause the contact portion ll thereof to lie between any two hour markings on the dial of the clock, its position being determined by the pointer ll. When so set, the projection I4 is in position to be electrically contacted by the brush I! carried by the 10 hour hand 20 as it sweeps around its path over v the clock dial 2|.

The metal contact ring 22 is supported on posts (one of which is shown at 23 in Figure 2) insulatedly mounted on the ring i2, which may be of insulating material. Four arcuate segments 24, 25, 26 and 21 are insulatedly mounted onthe ring 28 which may beof insulating material and are designed to be contacted by the brush 2!, carried by the minute hand 30 as it sweeps around its path over thenial 2|.

The segmentsjzlj. 25, 2B and 21 may be electrically connected to'the ring 22 by means oi: switch buttons ll, 32, 33 and 34: Pressing one of these buttons inwardly completes the circuit from the 95 segment (for example in which it is mounted through to the ring 22, the button remaining in or out, as placed.

The conductor 35 connects to the groove ring u carrying the gear ring Ill. Theconductor :0 connects to the plate 22 or a suitable relay device 31 may be inserted anywhere in the circuit and the local contacts 38 of this relay may be used to control the circuits of the radio set or other device to be operated by the time switch, or the device to be operated may be serially included in circuit with the time switch and the source of current connected toll";

A circuit can now be traced from -35 to groove ring II, to the gear ring it, and the arcuate por- 40 ;tion It thereof, to the contact I! and. through the hand 20, to the hand II and the contact 29 on the latter, to segment 2| and through button 3| therein (1! it is pushed in) to the ring 22 and thence to the conductor 39 through relay 31 to conductor 36 thereby completing the circuit. The circuit will remain complete as long as the brush 29 is in contact with segment 2| but when, during the clockwise movement of the hand ll the brush 2!! rides of! segment the circuit willbe opened and will remain open during the further operation of the clock for a 12 hourperiod.

To make this clear, it will be assumed that the time switch is set up" in advance to close its contacts for a 15 minute interval at 55 the switch will be opened. As the clock operates during the period from 10:15 to 11:00, the contact i 9 will gradually pass clockwise over the contact surface l4 and at 11 oclock contact 19 leaves i4 and the circuit is broken at that point.

pbviously the closing of the contact between 24 and 29 which occurs each hour for a 15 minute period will not close the circuit through the device until hour hand 20 again causes l8 to contact with I4.

Assuming, however, that the next button 32 has been pushed in and thereby 25 is connected to 22, then the circuit will be closed for an additional 15 minutes, the time it will take brush 29 to sweep over the segment 25.

From the foregoing it will be seen that by properly. setting the hour knob l5 and the corresponding buttons 3I to 34 inclusive that the time over which the switch will operate can be preselected for a period of 15, 30, 45 or 60 minutes or any combination of these 15 minute periods.

In order to provide means incorporated in this time switch for disabling the same so that it may be used as a manual switch, the switch button I is provided which is arranged to make contact between the ring 22 constituting one side of the switch circuit and the groove ring I I constituting the other side of the circuit. By push ing this button I inwardly the circuit controlled by the hands of the clock is short-circuited. Obviously, when button 40 is used it is immaterial whether the knob l5 and the buttons iii to 34 inclusive are in any certain position.

'The switch mechanism may be covered by a suitable cover 4!, preferably of insulating material, which. supports the usual crystal 42 for the face of the clock. The cover 4| together with the base i3 may form the case of the clock, the spring or electric motor therefor being'enclosed thereby or mounted upon the base [5 and covered by a supplemental rear casing (not shown) in the usual manner.

Although the invention has been disclosed in connection with the specific details of preferred embodiments thereof it must be understood that such details are not intended to be limitative of the invention except in so far as set forth in the accompanying claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A time switch having a clock face and hands, contact members on said hands, a movable contact member positioned about said face and turnable about an axis and adapted to contact with a contact member on one of said hands for a predetermined time interval, a plurality of fixed contact members positioned above said face and adapted to contact with another of said contact members on another of said hands, and means for connecting one or more of said fixed contact members in series with all the contact members on said hands and in series with said movable contact member.

2. A time switch comprising a base supporting the face and hands of the clock andmecha nism for driving the hands, a contact member insulatedly supported on said base and adjacent the path of travel of one of said hands and adapted to contact therewith, a plurality of fixed contact members insulatedly separated and supported on said base and lying adjacent the path of travel of one of said hands and adapted to contact therewith, a plate adjacent said last members, means for connecting one or more of said last contact members to said plate, and conductors forming a circuit serially including said hands, contact members and plate.

3. A time switch having a face and hands, a gear ring insulated from said face and rotatably supported adjacent the periphery thereof, means for adjusting said ring, means for establishing contact between a portion of said ring and the hour hand of the switch, a plurality of contact members insulated from the aforesaid parts, and means for establishing contact between the minute hand of the switch and said last members.

4. In combination with a clock having a face, a movable contact member circumferentially shiftable about said face and having an inwardly extending arcuate portion adapted to contact with the hour hand of said clock during a portion of its travel over said face, a minute hand, and a plurality of arcuate contact members sur rounding the path of travel of said minute hand and adapted to contact therewith during the sweep of said hand around the face of the clock.

5. In combination, a clock having a face and hands, a ring surrounding said face and circumferentially shiftable thereabout, said ring having an arcuate extension thereon extending inwardly toward the center of said face and adapted to contact on one of said hands, and a plurality of arcuate contact members overlying a portion of said ring and insulated therefrom and adapted to contact with one of said hands.

6. The combination as claimed in claim 5, wherein means is provided for manually connecting more than one of the contact members in an electrical circuit.

7. A time switch having a face, indicator hands extending radially of said face, arcuate contact members above said face adjacent the path of travel of said hands and adapted to contact therewith during the movement thereof, one of said members being circumferentially shiftable about the path of travel of said hands, and a circuit controlling switch mounted upon said switch having manual control means extending outwardly from the face of the time switch whereby all said contact members may be disabled.

8. A 'time switch having a face, indicator hands extending radially of said face, arcuate. contact members above said face adjacent the path of travel of said hands and adapted to contact therewith during the movement thereof, one of said members being circumferentially shiftable about the path of travel of said hands, a circuit controlling switch mounted upon said time switch having manual control means extending outwardly from the face of the'clock whereby all said contact members may be disabled, a case enclosing said contact members, means extending through said case for manually adjusting said movable contact member, and means extending through said case for connecting some of said contact members in circuit.

9. A time clock having 'a face and hour and minute hands, a contact member circumferentially shiftable. in respect to said hour hand and adapted to contact therewith during the move ment thereof across a pre-selected time interval space on said face, and a plurality of fixed contact members permanently mounted on said clock and extending entirely around the path of travel of said minute hand and adapted to contact therewith for pre-determined intervals.

10. In combination with a clock having a face and hour and minute hands, a plurality of fixed contact members circumferentially positioned about the face of said clock and adapted to contact with one of said hands to complete a circuit through said hands in series for predetermined periods, a movable contact member adapted to contact with one of said hands and means turnable about an axis for varying the position of said last member relative to said hands and thereby varying the duration of the circuit completed therethrough.

11. A time switch having a face, a hand extending radially of said face, a spring contact member carried by said hand and extending outwardly therefrom, a segment positioned above said face adjacent the path of travel of said member and adapted to contact for a predetermined time therewith, said segment having a non-yielding surface adapted to definitely determine the length of dwell of said contact member thereon during the movement of said hand, a second hand extending radially of said face, a spring contact member carried by said last hand, a plurality of segments fixed in respect to said last hand adjacent the path of travel of said last contact member and adapted to contact for a predetermined time therewith, said segments having a non-yielding surface adapted to deflnitely determine the length of dwell of the last contact member thereon during the movement of said last hand, and means for connecting all 15 of said contact members together.

HARRY R. VAN DEVEN'I'ER. 

